The List: 10 Apr 1992 (Issue 172)

artistic dignity, it needs three things: a revival of public interest in its massive literary heritage , a prestigious, purpose-built lyric opera house and performing arts college, and (the subject of this letter), a Scottish National Theatre.

Scotland should have its own National Theatre which is unique and speciﬁc to Scotland because Scotland has several overlapping cultures which are unique and speciﬁc to Scotland, none of which are serviced by any pre-eminent Theatre of Excellence.

None of our existing repertory companies perform Scottish Plays consistently. Why is it deemed necessary, indeed obligatory, for Scottish writers, actors and directors to form their own small-scale touring companies in order to produce Scottish drama?

We have an honourable tradition of importing our theatre; and our repertory companies usually do an excellent job of presenting it to us. However, we do seem to spend all our theatrical time listening to the world, and precious little in talking and listening to ourselves.

The generally excellent output of the small-scale touring companies in no way assuages the desire to see a large-scale , well-funded company which would be devoted to producing the best in Scottish drama. The company could be based in an existing building, eg the Empire Theatre, Edinburgh or the Tramway, Glasgow, or it could be based on the ideas of the grossly underfunded, sadly defunct, peripatetic, Scottish Theatre Company.

Colin Brown Great Junction Street Edinburgh.

Poll position

Over the weeks leading up to the

election there have been more and

more lies and damn lies being put

forward in the name of statistics.

What I want to know is if they are opinion polls, then who‘s opinion are they?

In 1983, when I lived in Falkirk, no

L 72 The List 10— 23 April 1992

\‘q‘g'nn D ..

Yes, there is life after the election! There are the terrors of Alien War, the magic of Merlin, the whole Universe at the Science Festival and the splendid thunder of The List’s letters page. Let those letters role! The best one wins a bottle of pure gold tequila from the beneficent

Jose Cuervo.

i one asked my opinion, but I didn‘t

have a vote. Nor in Glasgow in 1987

« or even in 1988. Every time I see one i of those ladies with clipboards in

i Sauchiehall Street, I walk past two or ; three times, but they have never

i once asked me a question. So how do you get to become part of the

; mythical representative sample from i 66 constituencies around Scotland?

I Every time there is an election I

3 think that The List should have a

' page on how we can get into the opinion polls. It would make the whole election much more fun and entertaining for everyone, because

surprise.

I am not in favour of capital punishment, but I‘m so tired ofall this stamping and shouting for one party or other that I don‘t care which one wins, just so long as there is a hung parliament. Can I have a bottle of tequila to celebrate?

Paul Johnston Wilton Drive

JOSE

Well Paul, you'll be glad to hear that a representative sample of the letters page editor thought your letter the best this issue. A bottle ofgolden

3 celebration potion awaits you in our

Glasgow Office

Monstrous erection

! Edinburgh District Council’s

: Planning Department are at the I

moment looking at plans for the development of the site in St Stephen Street, Stockbridge where the late

then the actual result would be a real '

i

lamented Cinderella Rockerfella‘s disco stood.

The proposal is for a block of84 dwellings with a six storey frontage on St Stephen Street and a nine storey tower block in the rear.

Apart from the enormity of the scheme which is quite out of place in this setting, the style of the development is also of the worst type. Anxious to present a ‘caring’ approach to this sensitive site and unable to cram six ﬂoors into the formal lines of the surrounding New Town apartment blocks, they have gone for an appalling tutti frutti pastiche of New Town rusticated stone, Leith warehouse windows and Asda ironwork.

When will these architects and developers learn that the people who live in these places choose to do so because they like the New Town style and do not wish for these enormous traffic-generating monstrosities to be erected in their midst.

In your lead news piece last issue, you claimed that ‘the UK‘s political agenda is overwhelmingly set by men‘. A briefglimpse at the election coverage currently swamping our screens reveals that the central issues, the economy, health, education. the Poll Tax are still dominated by the legacy of Thatcherism. Contrary to p0pular

rumour, Thatcher was not a bloke. Of course I accept that, as a rule, women are severely under- represented in the parliamentary system, but your argument isn’t helped when you make glib, sweeping and inaccurate assertions. Thatcher may have been an exception to the rule, but her inﬂuence was surely sufficient not to be ignored. Anyway, do I win the tequila? Gary Nelson Brighton Street Edinburgh No, you have employed one of the most useless, annoying and unconstructive arguments known to Male Chauvinist Pigdom. Sue Wilson points out that while Thatcher was not a ‘bloke’ she rose to power by playing the political game on men '3 terms and used their agenda not for the good of women, but in her own pursuit of power.

The same again

News that Steven Spielberg is set to remake an acclaimed French movie (The List 170) is cause for concern, rather than gushing praise. Ifthe Hollywood moguls believe that Cross My Heart won’t sell to the American Public, then let them do their own version for their own country by all means. C’est la vie, as you might say with a gallic shrug of the shoulders. But that they should then proceed to sell it back to us, as they undoubtedly will, is pure greed. It is a bit like getting Dickie

: Attenborough to star in the remake

of Taxi Driver for the British audience. You can see them lapping it up at the Odeon Leicester Square: ‘You looking at me, lovey’. Or Robbie Coltrane standing in for Big Arnie in the UK version of Terminator 2, directed by Nick Park. Sounds ridiculous, but so was the American version of Trois Hommes et un Coufﬂn. Liz Addams Oban Drive Glasgow. Ridiculous? How about a Joel Silver-produced remake of Cinema Paradiso, staring Bruce Willis and Macaulay Culkin? Pinch yourself, you’re not dreaming.

NEXT ISSUE OUT ON THURSDAY 23 APRIL

Get on down! Complete guide to week one of Mayl'est. Get down under! Nick Cave, the bad seed from the land of ()2. Down in your Burroughs! (.‘ronenberg does Naked Lunch.